To investigate the nature of young infants' social competence, the effect of depressed maternal expression during face-to-face interaction was examined. An experimental analogue of maternal depression was employed. Subjects were 12 female and 12 male infants, ages 96 to 110 days, and their mothers. (Author/RH)

Materials to promote social/emotional learning skills were tested with 80 hearing impaired elementary children. Assessment of others' emotions, perceptions of others' general character and personality traits, and of one's own affective reactions to various types of portrayed behavior helped students and teachers explore their affective reactions.…

A groupwork approach to the behavior problems presented within the context of recent theories about the significance of peer relationships to child development. (Author/MP)

Concludes that there are reliable relationships between altruism and perceptual, social, and moral perspective taking. Results concerning the relationship between empathy and altruism are nonsignificant overall, but it is suggested that a reliable association between empathy and altruism develops over time and is found in adults. (Author/RH)

Researchers concerned with the issue of children's play are urged to read the book "Children's Play: Current Theory and Research" edited by D. J. Pepler and K. H. Rubin which provides an up-to-date review of the conceptual, methodological and developmental issues related to children's play. (MP)

Defines and describes the fantasizing motif in children's literature and explains how teachers can use this motif to help children learn to live in society. (JL)

Beaumont College in Lancaster, England offers 2 year courses with emphasis on social learning and personal development (including career and leisure skills) for students 16 to 19 years old with physical disabilities and specific learning difficulties. (CL)

Hearing impaired children (eight to nine years old) and their teachers used a "feeling wheel" to discuss their feelings, help resolve arguments, and understand others' emotions. The wheel, divided into 16 segments labeled with feelings, helped students discuss how and why they felt a particular way. (CL)

Two studies investigated the presence of precursors of symbol formation in eight autistic children (nine years old) compared to matched retarded children. Results indicated that autistic Ss could form internal images but appeared to be unable to manipulate them in a purposeful and meaningful manner. (Author/CL)

The authors review research developments in the assessment and training of social skills with mentally retarded populations. A number of issues are discussed, including the need for totally individually tailored programs and the incorporation of the more subtle aspects of social competency into social skills training. (Author)

Assessed whether low-assertive college students' locus of control orientations would differentially affect their reactions to assertiveness training procedures. Subjects improved more on all self-report and behavioral measures than placebo or no-treatment control subjects. Externals showed significantly greater generalization of treatment effects…

Three approaches to encouraging interactions between severely handicapped and nonhandicapped students in integrated classrooms are cited: designing and organizing the classroom, training socialization skills to the severely retarded, and training nonhandicapped students to interact with severely retarded students. Research on each is reviewed.…

Differentiates between several terms used to refer to the five-year period between ages 9 through 13 (for example, "youth,""pubescence,""puberty," and "preadolescence"). Theories related to preadolescence, including the developmental theories of Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erikson, are briefly discussed, and…

Application of the concept of the imaginary audience to adolescents labeled as juvenile delinquents was attempted. Results showed that delinquents expressed greater concern about the imaginary audience and had more negative perceptions of their fathers than did nondelinquent males. (Author/GK)

Examines the relationship of birth order to sociability with an unfamiliar peer in a group of 101 children, 33 months of age. Differences were found favoring sociability in children with one or no siblings. Assertiveness followed the same pattern. Family influences which may account for these birth order differences are discussed. (Author/DB)